A master storyteller from Cannock will mark the biggest moment in his career to date when juggernaut drama Bodyguard concludes on Sunday.

Jed Mercurio has proved a master of action and suspense with his tense, bullet-peppered series which culminates with a 75-minute grand finale.

The show’s creator has drawn the biggest viewing figures for a drama launch in more than 10 years and been credited with the best BBC drama in two decades.

His own backstory traces to Cannock, where friends, family and former teachers will be watching the last instalment from the “effortlessly able” writer.

Among them is his former teacher, Peter Cadman.

Peter was a teacher and later deputy head at the former Walhouse Junior School in Cannock, which was later amalgamated with John Wood Infants and became St Luke’s C of E Primary.

Even then, the schoolboy was considered a prodigious talent.

A quiet confidence

Peter said: “Gerald Mercurio, as he was then, was always a quiet, very clever boy who went on to fulfil his true potential later on in life and the staff at Walhouse where he was as a junior pupil are proud of his achievements.

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Peter and his wife Carolyne are waiting with baiting breath for the final episode, which has been extended by 15 minutes from the show’s usual running time.

Daniel Hopkins, who leads Staffordshire University’s experimental film degree, will also be watching.

The senior lecturer pinpointed Mercurio’s life experience and less conventional entry into the television and film world as being key to his run of hit shows.

Mercurio, whose parents arrived from Italy after the war, originally trained and worked as doctor in Birmingham and Wolverhampton before switching careers, experiences which he channelled into his first television script, which became Cardiac Arrest.

His experiences on the wards, as well as with the RAF, have been credited for giving him experience of big organisations where frontline staff make critical decisions, and for allowing him to bring a heightened sense of realism to his dramas.

People have become gripped by the Bodyguard series

The screenwriter, now 52, has also maintained links with talented actors from the Midlands, including Vicky McClure, who starred in the acclaimed BBC drama Line of Duty.

His real life experiences have been invaluable

Versatility has also been key to the television dramatist’s writing career, with his showreel also including The Grimleys, a nostalgic comedy-drama which was set in Dudley and used the former Aston Manor School as a setting in its first episode.

Daniel said: “You have to put the secrets of his success down to his life experience, which includes being a doctor and being in the armed forces.

“His experiences in the real world helped him write Cardiac Arrest, Line of Duty and Bodyguard, and you can see that thread running through all of the shows along with his own research.

“You can also see the West Midlands in much of his work, such as The Grimleys, and there is a real grit in his work which you can see in everything he does.

“He also introduces twists the audience wouldn’t expect, with The Bodyguard and the Home Secretary character played by Keeley Hawes being one example. Life has possibly been a bit like that to him – not many people change careers from doctor to screenwriter.

“What I do at Staffordshire University is trying to widen participation all the time and it’s essential to look at new voices, diversity and have people from different backgrounds with fresh voices and stories, so it’s a great example for people going into the film and television world.”

Image from episode 6 of the Bodyguard

Bodyguard, which has run for five weeks, has left a skyscraper-by-the-finger-nails ending over the death of the Home Secretary, with the question of whether she really did die.

Daniel said: “Bodyguard has cut across different age groups and caught people’s attention in an age when not as many people watch television at the same time.

“I’ll be watching and encouraging the students to watch the drama with the message that it’s the kind of thing they could be working on in a few years.”

Mercurio’s success has led to London, through he still enjoys a pint and a curry in his hometown.

Image from episode six of the Bodyguard

He is currently in Belfast shooting the next series of Line of Duty. The married father-of-two broke off from filming earlier this week to speak to ITV about the final Bodyguard episode.

He said: “We’re all sitting back and enjoying the speculation. It’s great that people have their own theories. Actually, I do look at some of the bigger theories and it’s interesting that occasionally there’s a grain of truth.”

Hints of another series

Mercurio also raised the possibility of another series of Bodyguard.

He said: “We don’t know that yet. We’re just beginning the conversation with the BBC. We know that people out there are loving series one and there would be an appetite for series two but we’ll just have to wait and see. A lot goes into setting up a production and none of those conversations have taken place yet that would allow us to facilitate that production.”

Around 8million viewers watched last Sunday’s instalment of Bodyguard, when it was revealed the Home Secretary, played by Keeley Hawes, had died in a bomb blast.